


If the First Year is a Clock, What is a Half Year Anniversary?

by Shane_for_Wax



Series: Holtzmann the ADHD Engineer [3]
Category: Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: F/F, Gen, Sometimes I forget that Erin and Abby exist and I'm sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-20
Updated: 2016-08-20
Packaged: 2018-08-09 21:40:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7818307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shane_for_Wax/pseuds/Shane_for_Wax
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Holtzmann has never been very good with dates, with keeping track of the days and weeks and months. Not until Patty, anyways. She couldn't even tell you how long she had been working with Abby before they became the Ghostbusters. But Patty changed that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	If the First Year is a Clock, What is a Half Year Anniversary?

_Everyone knows where they were when --_ was not always true. Holtzmann could barely remember where she had been that morning, much less what had happened on a date that only held the most tenuous of significance inside of her mind. Oh sure she remembered the big 'life changing' dates, and her own birthday (well, sometimes. There was that time when she was turning twenty-two and hadn't realized until she was carded to get a drink and the bartender had wished her happy birthday and happy second year of legal drinking). Hell, sometimes she even remembered when her parents were born. But usually, no matter how much she cared, she always had to set a reminder of other birthdays and other dates of significance (such as when she had last refilled her medication that helped her concentrate a little bit better than if she didn't have it in her system). 

With Patty though... Patty was different. Never ask Holtz to explain how exactly, especially when she had been in plenty of other relationships before. It was just that she clicked so well with Patty, and they had gone into battle together multiple times, always saving each others' skins. 

With Patty in mind, she didn't need the little reminders on her phone (though Abby had offered with the best of intentions to put the anniversary reminder in Holtzmann's phone). Instead, the day of the half year anniversary (which was a feat for her all things considered), she had actually managed to get herself out of bed and out of her apartment earlier than usual. 

And even though crowds without a friend with her made her very, very nervous and antsy, she braved one of the local jewelry stores where she proceeded to harry one of the jewelers there about the very specific watch she needed, with bonus sketches. It took nearly until lunch time before the right watch was found. It squeaked just barely within her price range but it was of acceptable build and metal type so she was happy to pay (and the jeweler was happy to get the scruffy engineer out of her shop). In passing she mentioned she would probably be back later to drop off the 'guts' of the watch that she didn't need and the jeweler seemed about to faint but somehow managed a polite smile that Holtzmann didn't even see as she went out the door.

Skipping lunch without meaning to, she headed back home where she had a very small lab set up in one part of her apartment. It was there that she laid out the watch, gutted it as she said she would, then quietly went to work with it. She had never worked with watches before, or something so small, but it would do fine. 

In a matter of a couple of hours she had changed the watch into a battery powered communication device, something like a smartwatch but much less expensive and of better quality because hers was indestructible by anything less than a nuclear bomb thanks to her addition of a unique mix of tungsten and chromium on top of the original steel and gold the watch had been made with. It made the watch bulkier but that was why she had asked for a relatively thin watch to begin with. She had taken very precise measurements of Patty's wrist under the guise of finding a nicer pair of gloves. 

It also had the unique ability to pick up on any ecto activity within a five foot radius and would bring up arrows that would show the wearer in which direction the activity was coming from. 

That night when she showed up at Patty's place in her nicest jeans and her nicest shirt (what made them nice was the lack of stains), she understood the mild surprise on the woman's face. 

"Holtzy, what--?" Patty began before Holtzmann grabbed her wrist and pulled her bodily from the apartment. Patty could do nothing except force her legs to move as Holtzmann dragged her down the block to their favorite Italian place. It was there that Patty found out that not only had Holtzmann even remembered they had been together for six months but also remembered to make a reservation and remembered when said reservation even _was_. Throughout dinner though all she could do was look at the black watch box that sat there ominously and made her a little nervous.

Twice Patty began to ask what the occasion was and twice Holtz would shush her with a theatrical finger to the lips.

And then finally, _finally_ after Holtz had probably managed to eat every last bit of alfredo the restaurant had it was finally time for her to see what was in that damned tiny black box and she hoped to God it wasn't what she thought it was.

To say she was surprised and relieved it wasn't what she thought it was would be an understatement. But she did give a small gasp, as the face of the watch glowed softly with the time displayed clear as day. 

"Well?" Holtz prompted after thirty seconds of silence while Patty put the heavily modified watch on her wrist. 

"I love it, Holtzy. But don't tell me you spent hundreds on this," Patty said, tapping the watch and pausing as a small menu popped up. "What's this?"

"Oh, that! It doesn't just tell time, but it's a mini ecto sweep. It's not very strong just for when you think something hinky is going on next to you and then bloop you can get confirmation on your wrist. Neat, huh?" Holtzmann was obviously very proud of it, though Patty suspected half of the pride went to remembering what day it was.

"See, a watch is just a step below a clock, right? And a clock is for one year but it hasn't been that long yet but it's still a pretty big deal... six months y'know?" the engineer continued when Patty didn't say anything, just gave the barest of nods as she looked through the small menu. "Also it can be used to communicate with the rest of the team just... not right now cause no one else has a wrist communicator. But it's a lot simpler than carrying around those heavy walkie talkies right?"

"Right. Thank you, Holtzy, it's gorgeous. Didn't think you the type to celebrate half-aversaries but I love it," Patty finally said when the surprise had melted away a bit more. 

"Usually not, or I don't get this far with someone," Holtzmann admitted but didn't sound too sad about it. 

With a smile, Patty leaned over to kiss the engineer's cheek. "Well, thank you." She knew bringing up the past relationships any further wouldn't do anyone any good, least of all Holtzmann herself.

"You're welcome. Dessert?" Holtzmann prompted even while she was already flagging down the waiter who had been very patient with Holtzmann's constant requests for refills of both food and Pepsi. 

Holtzmann didn't even seem to realize Patty had come empty handed. Holtzmann wouldn't have cared either way. Though she felt like they were even when Patty paid the bill and found out the five glasses of Pepsi Holtzmann had managed to gulp down weren't free refills, only the pasta she had had three and a half bowls of had been. But Patty doubted very much Holtzmann had spent any less on the watch itself and then who knows how much she had spent on the extra materials.

All in all though, one of the best dates Patty had ever had in her lifetime.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks again to everyone who has been leaving kudos and comments they are all appreciated and have kept me going especially since I never intended on making the second fic much less a third! So thanks again. And to the anon on my tumblr who sent in the prompt for this one, thank you! Especially because you probably didn't know that dates unless they have some emotional significance don't tend to stand out in my mind! 
> 
> The prompt involved Holtzmann zeroing in on anniversaries, like ALL of them. I made a joke about 1/4 year but 1/2 year 'anniversaries' aren't quite as ridiculous and in fact can sometimes be significant depending on the history of someone's romantic life.
> 
> Any other prompts either for Toltzmann or my other pairings (which can be found by going [here](http://jacensolodjo.tumblr.com/ships)) can be sent to my tumblr @ jacensolodjo


End file.
